Israel Attacks Damascus, Killing Palestinian Fighters

Israeli strikes in Syria again focus on non-Syrians

Israeli officials offered a rare confirmation of overnight attacks on the Syrian capital city of Damascus. The Sunday night strikes were claimed to have killed six people, all of them Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

The PIJ confirmed the strike, claiming that two members of their group were killed. Others, including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at six killed.

All of this points to Israel once again attacking Syria with no intent to go after Syrians. For months, Israel has attacked Syria, nominally to kill Iranians, and now they’re trying to get Palestinians in Damascus as well.

PIJ called it cowardly to attack Palestinians inside Syria, and claimed the Israelis had failed to confront them inside Palestine itself. Syria’s state media claimed several missiles were intercepted.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.